As far as the Indian cement industry is concerned, it proactively factored in the advancements in technology a decade ago. That's why plants with 10,000 tonne per day capacity continue to operate with the same number of personnel as earlier.

The earnings projections of cement companies for FY18 are likely to suffer amid lower antic-ipated sales volumes and subdued prices. According to dealer estimates, the all-India average cement price fell by 2 per cent sequentially to Rs 326 per 50 kg bag in the December 2017 quarter.

In a landmark delivered on October 24, 2017 the Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta banned the use of dirty furnace oil and pet coke in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh from November 1, 2017.

For quite some time now; pet coke as fuel replacement has played a significant role in the overall cost of production. However, in the recent verdict, Supreme Court has asked Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana to stop the use of pet coke.